edwardsauthorsally

Sold to the highest bidder to pay off a blood feud, I never imagined I would be the pawn in my father's fatal game. Still, here I am before Enzo De Luca, the most vicious mafia leader in the city. Though appealing, he is cold, deliberate, and as lethal. Though my heart races just from his proximity, it is his touch that ignites me. My body betrays me and reacts to him in ways I am powerless over. And I melt as he softly, commandingly says my name.

Enzo loves neither me nor another. In his deadly kingdom, I am only another bargain, another transaction. But every time we are alone, the conflict between us snaps—desire becomes a terrible addiction. Although I detest him for everything he stands for, I yearn for the way he consumes me, body and soul.

He has made it quite evident—our marriage is more about power than love. Still, every angry gaze and every snatched moment in the shadow reveals something different. Benevolent underneath his icy façade lies something broken that appeals to the darkest sides of me. But depending on a man like Enzo may mean losing everything.

Bound to him now, for better or worse, I am caught in a world where loyalty is brittle and treachery carries a bullet. Our friendship gets more perilous the more truths about his empire I find. And as the past calls for us, I have to question myself: will our passion be the thing that ruins us both or can I survive loving a guy like Enzo De Luca?

Burning in his arms is me. But in his universe, I could roast alive.

OWNED BY MR MAFIA

The tempest outside reflected the one between us, lightning dancing across the room's big windows. Low and deadly, his voice sliced through the suspense.

Tell me the truth, Isabella, Enzo snarled, his huge figure blocking my way to the door. "Did you run upon him once more?"

My heart hammering against my ribs, I froze. "I told you, it wasn't like that," I yelled back, my voice quivering with equal parts anxiety and rage. Collins sought explanations. This is all.

His black eyes blazing with fury, he moved closer. "And what answers could he possibly give you that I couldn't?"

"Maybe the truth, Enzo!!" My inhibition snapped like a stretched wire, the words exploding from me. "Something you have been hiding from me from the day we met!!"

His jaw clenched, and for a few seconds I feared he may go off. Rather, he turned aside, his hands locked into fists. "You have no idea what is at risk," he said. "This is not only about us now."

SHADOWS OF DESIRES AND DECEPTION